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We're taking a trip down memory lane today with the Bumbles. After spending a weekend with nieces and nephews, Molly started to reminisce about the days when she was young and carefree, without a care in the world. She was remembering when a movie wasn't just something to do on a rainy day, but was a one-way ticket to an alternate universe, and provided months of entertainment in acting out the scenes with her friends. Which brings us to the question to ponder for this Monday. Which movies rocked your world as a child?
Typical for me, I can't come up with just one. I am way too indecisive for that. Generally, I was raised on campy Disney movies...That Darned Cat, Herbie the Love Bug, The Parent Trap. But there were a few that blew my mind:
Star Wars: Not to copy from the Bumbles, but I must. Back in the day, my grandparents owned a little lake cottage on Lake Freeman in Indiana, and my cousins, sister and I spent a great deal of time there in the summer. One summer night, my grandma grabbed all of us kids (most likely we were driving the other adults mad) and took us to the drive-in to see this movie. We were clueless...innocent lambs unknowingly stumbling down the path of no return. We had never seen anything like this in our lives. My cousin Jodi and I, of an age where we could piece together the plot and appreciate the finer points of love triangles and cute heroes, sat there agape. Our cenematic lives would never be the same. After that, a stick was never a stick, it was a light saber.
Charlotte's Web: As youths, we all read the book. And what an excellent book it was, not only about a sweet little pig and a smart spider, but a coming of age novel as well. When the movie came out, however, I believe this may have been the first one I'd watched that was based on something I'd read. The magic came to life. I cried for hours after it was over. My mom assured me that is wasn't real - spiders aren't really that smart and don't really have those human emotions. Didn't matter, my day was shot. I got a kitten later that week, and I named it Charlotte. I got a 4-H pig and named it Wilbur (along with about twenty other kids). It was many years before I ever killed a spider.
The Wizard of Oz: I don't believe I ever saw this movie in the theater, but it would be randomly aired on the Wonderful World of Disney on Sunday evenings. You never knew when they would show it, but when they did, man, it was THE BOMB. It really had everything to capture my imagination. Living in the Midwest, I was terrified of tornadoes, so that grabbed my attention right off the bat. Then there were the shoes! At that time, Target didn't sell the red ruby slippers for $7.99, and all the girls dreamed of having a pair. And that nasty-attitude witch. She was just like a knat that wouldn't go away. I always felt she needed to take up a hobby or something, and get a life. We loved to hate her! Then there was always that tense moment, peeking between my fingers when the flying monkeys would de-stuff the scarecrow. It was like watching someone being disemboweled, and it terrified me. As the credits rolled, I always sat there with my mouth open in wonderment. Was it just a dream? No! I believed!
What movies made an impact on you as a child?
Typical for me, I can't come up with just one. I am way too indecisive for that. Generally, I was raised on campy Disney movies...That Darned Cat, Herbie the Love Bug, The Parent Trap. But there were a few that blew my mind:
Star Wars: Not to copy from the Bumbles, but I must. Back in the day, my grandparents owned a little lake cottage on Lake Freeman in Indiana, and my cousins, sister and I spent a great deal of time there in the summer. One summer night, my grandma grabbed all of us kids (most likely we were driving the other adults mad) and took us to the drive-in to see this movie. We were clueless...innocent lambs unknowingly stumbling down the path of no return. We had never seen anything like this in our lives. My cousin Jodi and I, of an age where we could piece together the plot and appreciate the finer points of love triangles and cute heroes, sat there agape. Our cenematic lives would never be the same. After that, a stick was never a stick, it was a light saber.
Charlotte's Web: As youths, we all read the book. And what an excellent book it was, not only about a sweet little pig and a smart spider, but a coming of age novel as well. When the movie came out, however, I believe this may have been the first one I'd watched that was based on something I'd read. The magic came to life. I cried for hours after it was over. My mom assured me that is wasn't real - spiders aren't really that smart and don't really have those human emotions. Didn't matter, my day was shot. I got a kitten later that week, and I named it Charlotte. I got a 4-H pig and named it Wilbur (along with about twenty other kids). It was many years before I ever killed a spider.
The Wizard of Oz: I don't believe I ever saw this movie in the theater, but it would be randomly aired on the Wonderful World of Disney on Sunday evenings. You never knew when they would show it, but when they did, man, it was THE BOMB. It really had everything to capture my imagination. Living in the Midwest, I was terrified of tornadoes, so that grabbed my attention right off the bat. Then there were the shoes! At that time, Target didn't sell the red ruby slippers for $7.99, and all the girls dreamed of having a pair. And that nasty-attitude witch. She was just like a knat that wouldn't go away. I always felt she needed to take up a hobby or something, and get a life. We loved to hate her! Then there was always that tense moment, peeking between my fingers when the flying monkeys would de-stuff the scarecrow. It was like watching someone being disemboweled, and it terrified me. As the credits rolled, I always sat there with my mouth open in wonderment. Was it just a dream? No! I believed!
What movies made an impact on you as a child?
18 comments:
somehow, I never saw the Wizard of oz until a couple of years ago. someone at work made a reference to ignoring the man behind the curtain and I and no idea what he meant. time to rent the DVD!
May the force be with you!!
Oh, Charlotte's Web! It's funny, I watched it as a child and completely forgot I has - until two years ago, when I read the book and realized how familiar everything was, lol
This brings back such memories, Sandy! Going to the movies was a major event! There were so many good Disney movies Lady & the Tramp, Bambi, Dumbo and The 101 Dalmatians I remember! Then there was The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams and Return from Witchc Mountain! One of the first movies I was allowed to see without an adult was The Chariots of Fire!
Great post!
ahhh . . . the Wizard of Oz, and Sound of Music are two I remember from "Wonderful World of Disney". I loved your description of viewing Star Wars for the first time. And Charlotte's Web--now there's a classic. If you want to wander down my road I’m home.
GREASE made an impact on me. I lived in Hollywood at the time and it played at Grauman's Chinese Theatre for 6 months!! I saw it like 10 times. That was the beginning of my love affair with musicals.
I also loved the Disney movies too and the movies with Don Knotts (The Ghost and Mr. Chicken, The Reluctant Astronaut). Add to that Jerry Lewis movies and you'll have a good picture of me at age 7.
My family and I just watched The Errand Boy. My kids LOVED it. So nice to sit as a family, enjoying a movie that you know isn't going to flash something inappropriate.
Disney all the way when I was young. The Wizard of Oz was an annual requirement (I can still see Danny Kaye--yes!--skipping away down the Yellow Brick Road after his introduction). But the biggest impact were two I watched when staying at my grandparents'(around age 11), long after they and my brother had fallen asleep: Showboat, and Lana Turner in Madame X. I can still see her hands at the movie's end...
I waited in line a long time to see Star Wars. Bladerunner was also a big favorite.That must go on the list. The movies my little brother and I could not get enough of were those old SInbad movies with the animated army of skeletons. We loved those. And the old Journey to the Center of the Earth movies that used real lizards dressed in dinosaur costumes. We loved those. Much later, in high school, we became movie snobs and spent hours trying to figure out all of the symbolism in The Tin Drum.
Caite - I am amazed that you waited that long to see this classic! So, did you like it?
Beth - thanks! You too!
Nymeth - I could probably recite that book by heart, I read it so many times, and saw the movie so many times.
Amy - Yes! We saw all of those, and I loved them. They didn't make a huge impact on me, but were very entertaining!
Kaye - Oh yeah Sound of Music! We loved that movie when we were young, and my kids love it now. Another one I forgot about was Fiddler on the Roof. I was obsessed with that movie when I was young.
Ti - I bet I saw Grease 30 times, and I knew all the dances too. I forgot about that one too. See what happens when I do this meme early in the morning?
ds - will you think I'm a dork if I haven't seen either of those movies? I'm not sure why, but this is the honest truth.
James - oh yeah, Bladerunner was great too. The movies I watched when I was younger is miles from what I watched as a teen. I became obsessed with slasher, scarey movies. Most of them pure trash.
The Talking Heads "Stop Making Sense." My friends and I went to see it over and over and over again. Good times!
Sandy, you will never be a dork! Get that thought right out of your head; those movies are simply proof that someone here was a weirdo insomniac at a fairly early age...How about "Bedknobs and Broomsticks"--that had half the cast of Mary Poppins in it!
Sandy, of course I loved it! It is a classic. Just one I was very late to see.
Great question! I was also all about Star Wars when I was little. And Indian Jones (that's the movie I blame for my unfortunate career choice). I also loved The Little Mermaid, which I had memorized (yes, really), and this weird movie with Peter O'Toole in Ireland and his castle is filled with ghosts. And he invites all these American tourists to the castle to make money and two of them fall in love with the ghosts. I can't remember the name of it, though.
Oooo - DSB is right - Bedknobs & Broomsticks was a goodie. Loved the books too.
I loved stuffed animals as a child - that could cover an entire series of posts alone - and I adopted (i.e. was given) a little stuffed brown mouse who stood up on his hind legs and for some reason I felt he looked more like a rat and named him Templeton after Charlotte's Web - I must have either read or watched the movie.
I think it is soooo cool that you saw Star Wars at the Drive-In!!!! Right out underneath that big galaxy of stars above. I think my mind would have exploded.
I remember the Wizard of Oz would be on TV every year right around Thanksgiving for some reason. Those monkeys gave me the heebie-geebies. I wonder why you never see it on TV anymore? Maybe that's why poor Caite took so long to see it.
I'd only read Charlotte's Web last year and totally loved it. I must catch the movie someday.
Hi, just visiting from Jenners at Find Your Next Book Here. I've enjoyed having a look at your blog and was particularly interested in this post. All 3 of the films you mentioned had an impact but for me the biggest one had to be Grease - how I nagged my parents to buy me one of those football cardigans (you know the ones I mean?)and we all knew the words to all the songs off by heart, the first time I can remember this happening. a
Aah those were the days!
The Wizard of Oz - yes! But, in the olden days when I was a kid, it was shown just once a year. It was always so magical when Dorothy came out of her house in Munchkinland and everything had switched from black & white to color.
I remember Herbie. :-) Star Wars is such a great movie. The movies that came to my mind for this week's topic included The Never Ending Story and Joe and the Volcano. I know the second one is a strange one to name, but, well, it was a summer staple during my childhood.
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